My Review of Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui
I recently watched the movie “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui”. The movie is about two lovers, one of whom is a hardcore gym enthusiast and the other, the woman is a Zumba trainer. The twist in the story is that the woman is a transitioning woman, a trans-woman, whereas the man is a cisgender man. However, in the movie, the role of trans-woman is actually played by a woman — Vaani Kapoor. Thus, it is a story of love between a straight man and a trans-woman.
The movie is touching at several places, especially those wherein Maanvi Brar, i.e. the role played by Vaani has to stand for herself in front of her mother, father, and even Manvinder, the role played by Ayushmann Khurrana. But the movie has one big flaw — and that flaw prevents the deep-level connect with the story, despite my desire to connect to it at the deepest level. The flaw is that Maanvi Brar is actually not a trans-woman in reality, she is very much a feminine image of a desirable woman. That connect with the story falls short because of this one big, undeniable, and hard-to-overlook reality.
I do not intend to say that trans-woman cannot look so beautiful or post-transition cannot look like Maanvi does. But the concerns are beyond just physical image. Depth.
The movie seems unrealistic therefore. The story is amazing, but the portrayal of it in visual sense is not quite there to ring bells that it deserves. For example, a transitioning woman has a lot to overcome both internally and externally, and also psychologically. The transition from a male body to a female body happens in different stages, and there are lots of struggles, inner turmoils, confusion, medical roadblocks, and phases of depression linked to that entire journey.
The depth of this transition and the reality of this transition are unfortunately close to minimal and even non-existent in the movie. It is very hard to connect to Maanvi Brar as a trans-woman. Audience is not shown that journey of her past, except an image which is clearly of someone else. Sadly thus, the movie reduces to a normal love story, except a past experience which is radically different in the text, but not in the visuals or the movie.
For example : the trans-women that we encounter at road sides in India, or the woman that Manvinder talks to in the movie to understand Maanvi are still realistic and therefore, the movie could actually have picked up someone with whom it is easier to connect with, and relate to. Or a lady that we had watched in Satyamev Jayate who talked of her story on transitioning into a woman. These are very real examples of trans-woman.
Only then the horrors of falling in love, making them your life-partner, family resistance would seem much more realistic and grounded. In the movie, everyone feels that Maanvi is the apostle of beauty and feminine energy and desire her, because that is how she is. It is very hard as an audience to be able to separate that energy from her and therefore, the role played as Maanvi remains wanting and let down.
I personally did like the movie, the entire story. In fact, its narration would have been much better than its visual execution, it had the potential to transform the minds of people. But, the choice of actor or even any person would have created a huge difference in terms of audience being able to see it the way the directors had wanted it to be seen.
An example from the Indian movies are the movies of Rituparno Ghosh, Chitrangada. I believe it was a fantastic movie with all the little details and beauty of a trans-woman. The agony of transitioning from a man to a woman, to who you have always felt inside, is depicted with such meticulousness and tenderness that as an audience you become a witness to their journey, their pain, their unshed tears and unspoken fears, and yet visible courage and bravery. I would recommend my readers to watch that one movie, if you want to feel the poignant journey of a trans-woman.
But, for the current movie under discussion, appreciation and acknowledgement is due for their bold move to share the story with the Indian audience. However, though, for this case, it can be said that “Truth is Stranger than Fiction” and if fiction has to depict truth then it requires depth and awareness. I am sure the team had worked hard for this one and by no means I want to disregard it or reduce it to nothing. Yet, as a connoisseur of movies on alternative sexualities, identities, and gender roles, I wanted to share my thoughts.
I believe, movies are an excellent medium to normalize the laws that have ben passed by our Courts, but not yet been integrated into our cultural milieu and mindsets. Therefore, I believe it is a very progressive move to launch a movie like Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui and we would love to see more of these. However, these depictions would need to be relatable, and thus, might carry the risk of rejection by the public, but any attempt to dilute the reality would risk much more — no piercing image of lessons in the minds.
But I also understand the difficulties linked to such an idealistic expectation that I have demonstrated. Still I believe, movies still have that luxury to be extremely realistic, yet fictional at the end of the day. And therefore, I believe it is ok to experiment ruthlessly, like it is done in French movies of the same genre, or even in the movies of Rituparno Ghosh.
Looking forward to more such stories, and with much more realistic depiction.
